OAKLAND – One of Oakland’s greatest and most-beloved coaches will put down the headset after Laney College’s final game of the 2024 season.
Legendary Skyline High and Laney College football coach John Beam told the Bay Area News Group on Friday that after almost five decades on the sidelines, he’s ready for a change.
“Forty-five years seemed like a good time go to out,” Beam said, later adding, “It’s been a good run, brother.”
Beam, 65 will remain on as Laney’s athletic director, and plans on staying involved in the community. He said health is not a factor in his decision, noting that he “feels great” and is still able to surf and snorkel in his free time.
The man who has devoted his life to the city of Oakland cited the 24-7 grind of being a modern-day college football coach – with year-round recruiting and having to navigate the Name, Image and Likeness space – as notable factors for his decision to step away.
Beam will stay plenty busy, though.
He said he plans on helping young entrepreneurs start tech businesses, and begin a program that educates parents and athletes on NIL. Beam even said that a return to the sidelines as a high school flag football coach could be in the cards.
And of course, he will now have more time to spend with his wife, daughters and grandchildren.
“I’m retiring from coaching football, I’m not retiring from life,” Beam said. “This book is over, but there will be a sequel.”
Beam, a San Diego native, started as an assistant coach at Skyline in 1982, and then built the Titans into the premier program in the Oakland Athletic League as head coach from 1987 to 2004, winning 15 league championships, 11 section championships, having four undefeated seasons, and going undefeated in league play in the 90’s.
John Beam, Skyline High head football coach, talks to his troops before a game with Foothill High.
Beam then went to Laney College, first as an assistant coach, and later becoming the school’s athletic director and head football coach. The Eagles won the 2018 California Community College Athletic Association title.
A national audience was introduced to Beam when his team was featured in the Netflix documentary “Last Chance U” in 2020. Beam said that his decision to step away is one that he’s mulled for years, and that he almost decided to retire at different points over the past five years.
When asked to describe his favorite memory of coaching was, Beam didn’t recall a league championship or thrilling victory.
It was seeing his players, many from rough neighborhoods around Oakland, go on to great careers after they ended their football-playing days.
“They came back, they gave back,” Beam said. “They went to the NFL, they got jobs. They’re plumbers, they’re therapists, they’re working for the city of Oakland.”